2nd Children Account for 50% of Babies in SE China's Fujian

China a sees 7.4 million babies born in the first five months of 2017, a year-on-year increase of 7.8 percent. [Xinhua]

The number of second children born in southeast China's Fujian Province in 2016 accounted for 50.6 percent of all newborn children that year, beating out the total number of first children, or third, or more, local media reported on Monday.

Data from the Fujian Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission showed the rate of second children among new born babies in Fujian reached to 50.6 percent in 2016, while the number in 2014 and 2015 were 45.5 percent and 49.4 percent respectively, Fujian Evening Post reported.

This number of second children has put a burden on local maternity hospitals, for example, at the Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, which saw more than 7,000 babies delivered so far this year, a 2-percent increase over the same last year period, the report said.

China allowed couples to have two children from 2016, ending the one-child policy era after almost 40 years.

NHFPC figures show that 18.5 million babies were born in hospitals in 2016, the highest since 2000 and 1.3 million more than for 2015, with about 45 percent of them having an older sibling, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

(Source: Global Times)

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